Dunvegan and MacLeod Castle, Isle of Skye

We are here at Dunvegan Castle for the wedding of the 29th grandson of Tormod, son of Leod, son of the Norse king Olaf the Black.
For thousands of years Skye has drawn settlers to its shores and this area of the island must have seemed very attractive to those who came sailing into the deep loch with its sheltered bays. In the 9th Century, fierce Vikings roamed the west coast on their trading routes between the Faroes, Iceland and Ireland. Dunvegan loch would have been a good place in which to find shelter.
Later, in the 13th Century, the Viking chieftain Leod sailed from the Isle of Man to take over Dunvegan Castle.
His sons founded the MacLeod clan and under their protection, the clanspeople farmed this area. Over the centuries Dunvegan village developed around the castle.
After the glaciers of the last Ice Age, this area was settled by hunters and gatherers. As the climate changed, they began to settle and cultivate the land. Walled “duns" were built by later inhabitants, followed in time by "brochs" or fortified towers.
Dunvegan Castle (Dun Beagan) stands on what might have been an earlier "dun", possibly named after "Beagan", a Celt reputed to have colonised parts of Iceland.
In the 13th century the Viking longboat of Leod, son of Olaf the Black, Norse King of the Isle of Man, sailed into Loch Dunvegan.
He came to marry the daughter of MacRailt, a Norse jarl or earl who held Dunvegan. They had two sons, Tormod and Torquil who founded the clan MacLeod (some of Leod) which came to dominate a large part of this region.Read more